


they can talk all they want to (we don’t have to hear)

by sheriffandsteel



Category: A Song of Ice and Fire & Related Fandoms, A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin, Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Music, Alternate Universe - Rock Band, Angst with a Happy Ending, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, F/M, Modern Westeros, Musicans, Mutual Pining, Past physical and emotional Abuse, Rockstars, Slow Burn, Theonsa - Freeform, Theonsa Week
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-16
Updated: 2019-09-16
Packaged: 2020-10-20 01:50:36
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 21,155
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20667335
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sheriffandsteel/pseuds/sheriffandsteel
Summary: If Sansa’s sixteen-year-old self had been asked where she saw herself in five years she certainly would not have said as a world famous rockstar who was constantly deflecting rumors that her and fellow bandmate Theon Greyjoy were an item. If she had then been asked where she saw herself at age twenty-five, she undoubtedly would not have said playing in that same band and wishing that those rumors were true.





	they can talk all they want to (we don’t have to hear)

**Author's Note:**

> Written for Theonsa week day four prompt, dreams. This was supposed to a quick little story and then this behemoth happened. I hope you enjoy!

**Arya:** Have you seen this? 

Sansa groaned as the sound of her phone going off broke through the early morning silence. Rubbing the sleep from her eyes she grabbed her phone and glared at it, hoping that Arya wasn’t about to send her another link to a critic’s review. In the past week since their album release it seemed that everyone in her contact list wanted her to read one glowing review or the other. Sansa was happy that the album was being met with such great reception but still. It was five in the morning; she wasn’t in the mood to read anything especially since she had only fallen asleep a few hours ago. 

Sighing as curiosity got the best of her Sansa clicked on the link Arya sent her after she dimmed her phone screen so it didn’t glare so harshly in the dark room. 

Her eyebrows rose in surprise as she recognized the gossip site Arya had sent her to and she had to bite back a laugh at the title of the article. Now she understood why Arya was sending it to her so early. 

_Theon Greyjoy and Sansa Stark-are they really over? _

Sansa wasn’t usually one for reading gossip sites, especially when it was gossip about her (a lesson that she had learned the hard way during her modeling days) but she found herself morbidly curious and she scrolled down to read further as her phone went off with another text. 

**Arya:** Whatever you do don’t read the comments. 

Sansa rolled her eyes at that. She did not need another reminder, there was a reason she turned off comments on her Instagram posts after all. She had learned that lesson the hard way too. 

_With the release of their fourth album it is no surprise that The Pack is back on everyone’s minds. However, the question that is plaguing us isn’t about their hauntingly soulful music or their near pop like anthems. The question haunting us over here is, is the album’s titular song _‘In my Dreams’_ proof that Greyjoy and Stark are finally getting back together? _

Sansa narrowed her eyes as she burrowed deeper into the blankets. She could feel herself growing annoyed already with the writer and she wasn’t even in to the main story yet. She noticed that they didn’t mention it was their fourth full length album in six years or that it was the first time each of the five members of the band had a song they had written as a solo lyricist appear on the album. As usual, they were focused on her and Theon. 

_For years there have been rumors circulating about The Pack’s lead singer Theon Greyjoy and keyboardist Sansa Stark. When the band first came onto the music scene the animosity between the two of them was palpable so it came as quite a shock to fans when Stark admitted early last year that Greyjoy was the reason she joined the band in the first place. _

Those first few months after they were signed to a record label had felt like a dream, one that Sansa never wanted to wake up from. When she had left King’s Landing and her successful modeling career in a stressful traumatized blur, she had thought that she would never be able to get her life back on track. She had thought that this was it for her, she was going to crawl back home to Winterfell and die there, alone and unloved. She had sunk so deep into a depression that the only thing she wanted to do was sleep and write sad songs on the piano the few times she was actually alone in the house, which wasn’t very often considering how worried her family had been about her since she had returned. 

She was tinkering with a melody she’d had stuck in her head for weeks when a creak of the floorboards made her head snap up, her fingers slipping and hitting several keys at once. Both Sansa and Theon, who was standing across the room from her, winced at the harsh sound. 

“That’s really good, well except for the end.” Theon smirked at her and Sansa nodded her thanks, quickly looking back at the notebook she was writing in. 

It was not lost on Sansa that this was the first time she had been alone with a man since, well she didn’t care to think about that, but this was Theon for Seven’s sake. She had grown up with him and he practically lived at her house. It didn’t stop the nerves from taking hold of her stomach and she had to force her breathing to remain even. Thankfully he stayed on the other side of the piano from her and she wondered if she looked as much like a skittish animal as she felt. 

“Did you write that?” Theon asked, nodding his head along like he could still hear the music. 

Sansa nodded slowly as she shut her notebook and pulled it against her chest tightly. She didn’t need anyone to know about the sad songs she had been writing for the past few weeks. She quickly got to her feet and made to walk past him, suddenly unable to be in the same room with him alone. He made no move to stop her but she felt his eyes on her back as she left. 

“You should play with us sometime.” Theon called as her foot hit the bottom stair. 

Sansa looked back over her shoulder at him curiously. She knew that he had recently taken to singing in the garage in the band her siblings had decided to form. It was all Robb and Arya would talk about and even Jon seemed to brood less since they had started. They hadn’t even asked her to watch them practice so Sansa didn’t quite understand why Theon was asking her to play with them. 

“Why?” Sansa asked, clutching the notebook tighter to her chest. If this was a pity invite there was no way she was going. She’d had enough of people feeling sorry for her. 

Theon shrugged and leaned against the wall languidly, looking down the hallway at her. “We need something to set us apart from every other band on the scene right now. Keyboard would help.” 

“I don’t play the keyboard, I play the piano.” Sansa informed him even as something in her chest untightened at his words. She couldn’t remember the last time someone had valued her for anything other than her body or her face. 

“Is there really a difference?” Theon asked with a smirk. 

Sansa rolled her eyes at the sight of it and it took her a moment to realize that was the first time someone had treated her normally since she had returned unannounced in the middle of the night with three broken ribs and more bruises than she knew what to do with it. Maybe it was because Theon hadn’t been at the house that night so he hadn’t had to see how wrecked she was or maybe he was just able to look at her and see something other than her damage, unlike everyone else in her life. She wouldn’t mind playing music with him if it gave her the chance to be treated like a normal person again, even if Theon didn’t understand the instrument she played. 

“I’m not playing any of my songs.” Sansa said as she started up the stairs slowly. 

She could still feel his eyes on her and she was halfway up the stairs when he called after her, “You will.” 

It took a bit for her siblings to get onboard with Sansa playing with them, Arya was especially adamant that they didn’t need a keyboard but after one practice they all had to admit that the adage of her instrument did send their music to a new level. No one ever talked about it but somehow from that moment on Sansa was a part of the band. The days she used to spend wallowing in self-pity she now spent in the soundproofed garage playing music so loud she couldn’t hear her own thoughts. 

It was a welcome relief. 

_One thing that has always been a major part of their relationship is Greyjoy’s encouragement to Stark to share her lyrics with not just her band but also the world._

After a few weeks of playing only for themselves and their family members Jon managed to secure them their first show at a bar he was a frequent patron of. Sansa had never been more nervous than she had been that night as she walked onto their ‘stage’ which was really just a corner of the bar that had been set up with their equipment. They were on the same level as everyone else but to Sansa it felt like there were miles separating them. 

She had been so nervous during that first show that she wasn’t able to look out at the crowd (which couldn’t have been more than fifteen people, most of them family and friends). She kept her gaze trained on her keys and the one time she felt brave enough to look up her eyes were immediately caught by Theon. He had always been charming but when he performed, he was magnetic. Watching him sing in that moment Sansa felt some of the nerves loosen inside of her chest. With Theon at the helm The Pack would be going places. 

The only problem was she had forgotten how incredibly _annoying_ Theon could be. In the months since she had joined the band, he had yet to bring up her writing songs to the other members but he was like a dog with a bone about it with her. He would not let it go. 

“Just show me what you’ve written!” He all but begged as he leaned across the piano to give her puppy dog eyes. Sansa scoffed and shut her notebook, cradling it against her chest as he reached for it. Once again, he had snuck up on her writing songs when she had thought she was alone. She kept forgetting her parents had given him a key. 

“It’s private.” she snapped, burrowing the notebook so tightly to her she could feel the metal spiral pinching into her skin. 

“That’s even more reason to show it to me!” Theon goaded, coming around the edge of the piano to kneel in front of her, hands clasped together like in prayer. “Please Sansa, I can’t keep singing these broody songs Jon writes. Give me some new material.” 

Sansa rolled her eyes at him and for half a second she was tempted to hand him her songbook but that feeling quickly passed and she shook her head. They were simply too personal to share. “Sing some of Arya’s stuff then.” she said, raising to her feet. 

Theon groaned and let his head fall against the piano bench she had just been occupying. “Bands shouldn’t have secret songs!” he called after her retreating form. Sansa was glad he couldn’t see the smile that broke across her face at his words. Even after all this time she still got a little thrill when she was reminded that she was in a band, that she was a part of something. 

Unfortunately, Theon’s nagging to hear her songs only got worse with the more attention the band got. It didn’t bother Sansa nearly as much as she thought it would because Theon teasing her was normal, it had always been their normal. Considering the fact that the rest of her family was still treating her like she was made out of glass, normal was a welcome relief. 

“Don’t you want to impress the record label?” Theon asked as he spun drumsticks around his fingers as they waited in the garage for the others to join them. 

Sansa rolled her eyes at him, both knowing that if Ayra caught him playing with her stuff he’d be a dead man. Theon simply smirked at her and spun the sticks faster. 

“You don’t even know if my songs are good.” Sansa reminded him, going back to practicing her part for the new song Robb wanted to play that night. 

“Why wouldn’t they be? Everything else you do is.” Sansa fought down a blush as she looked up to see if Theon was teasing her, but to her surprise his face was sincere. Biting her lip, she changed the melody she was playing to something slower that she had written and Theon perked up at the unfamiliar tune. Just as she opened her mouth to start singing the door swung open and Arya let out an indignant shout. 

“I’ve told you to stop touching my things!” 

_In fact, her early refusal to share her writing seemed to be the major source of most of their disagreements. _

Even as they wrapped up recording their first studio album, _The Ghost of Harrenhal_, Sansa couldn’t quite believe that they had actually been signed to a record label. Every morning she woke up she had forgotten and each time she remembered she was overcome with a level of happiness she had once thought that she would never be able to feel again. 

The only thing that threatened to break into her happy bubble was Theon and his constant nagging at her to let them put one of her songs on the album. 

“Everyone else will have a lyricist credit, you should have one too!” Theon goaded her as they finished packing up their things. They were the last two left in the recording studio with the exception of the sound editor, Margaery, who had on thick headphone and wasn’t paying them the slightest bit of attention. 

“I will have a lyricist credit, I helped Arya write _‘More Wolf than Woman’_.” Sansa reminded him, her nerves beginning to stretch thin on this topic of conversation. He’d told the other members of the band that she wrote songs she wasn’t sharing with them and now they were all over her about it. No matter how many times she said that they weren’t good enough to share someone else always chimed in with the fact that the band should be the judge that. 

“What are you so afraid of Stark?” Theon asked, tugging at his curls in exasperation. 

“I am not afraid.” Sansa bit out through gritted teeth, taking a step closer to poke Theon’s shoulder in annoyance. How dare he accuse her of that? Just because she didn’t want to parade her songs in front of them didn’t mean she was scared. They were personal, she didn’t want anyone else to hear them. 

“Then what is it?” Theon asked, grabbing her hand and stopping her in her tracks as she tried to walk past him. Sansa tried to ignore the fact that this was the first time a man that wasn’t related to her had touched her in months. It was Theon after all, they had grown up together. They were basically related. 

“I write my songs for me. Not for anyone else.” Sansa finally admitted with a sigh when it became clear that Theon was not letting her leave without a different explanation. 

His blue eyes were clear and bright on hers as he responded without hesitation, “That’s all the more reason to share them.” 

_The animosity between the two of them seemed to be so intense during the release of their first album that several people were certain the band would end before it truly even got the chance to begin. _

_The Ghost of Harrenhal_ proved to be more of a success than any of them could have ever dreamed of. It had been sitting number one on the charts for five weeks and they were gearing up to go on their nationwide tour in a few more weeks. Theon had been so distracted by their newfound fame and all the perks it granted him (pretty women buying him endless drinks was not something he was likely to turn down) that he stopped bothering her about showing him her songs. Sansa thought that they had finally reached the end of it until they were interviewed for the cover story of one of the most popular music magazines in the nation. 

“So, everyone in the band is a lyricist on the album.” Roslin Frey brushed a lock of her dark hair behind her ear as she looked at Sansa curiously. “But Sansa you are only co-credited on two songs, why is that?” 

Sansa opened her mouth to answer about the others being better writers than her but before she could Theon interjected. 

“Because she’s too chicken shit to play us her own stuff.” he said slumping back against the cushions and pushing his sunglasses higher up his nose. Even from the other side of the couch Sansa could smell the booze reeking off of his breath. She just hoped Roslin didn’t notice too. 

“You’re an ass Greyjoy. I told you I’m not scared.” Sansa snapped, leaning across Robb to glare at him. 

Theon turned to face her and even without seeing his eyes behind his glasses Sansa knew the smug face he was making. “Then prove it. Sing us something, right here right now.” 

Sansa grit her teeth and refused to make eye contact with anyone else as she curled her fingers into fists so tight she felt her nails bite into her palms. She was tempted to sing just to wipe that look off Theon’s face but it seemed no matter what she did he was going to win this fight. He wasn’t going to get a victory and a song from her. “Fuck you. I don’t do requests.” she snapped before slumping back against the couch and turning back to Roslin who was looking between her and Theon with open curiously. 

When the article came out it was less about their music and more about the ‘obvious animosity’ between Sansa and Theon. The others names were only mentioned very briefly. To say that no one was happy about the article was putting it lightly. 

_The first few months when the band came onto the scene the tension between the two was overpowering. While it was originally regarded as true dislike of each other fans soon realized the tension was covering up their much deeper feelings. _

The hardest part about being on tour was finding time to think. With all five of them on the bus it felt like someone was always in her space. As such, Sansa found herself waking up incredibly early in the morning right when everyone else was going to bed. It was the only time she found time to actually be alone so she was a bit disappointed one morning when she got to the back of the bus and found Theon there messing around on his guitar. 

“You’re up late.” Sansa said politely as she settled down on the couch beside him. Despite what the article suggested they didn’t actually have a feud and after the disaster of an interview they had both apologized. Theon had even promised to try to stop bugging her about her songs. All it meant was he only asked her once a day now instead of ten. 

“Can’t sleep.” Theon sighed and threw his pen down on the floor in frustration. “I’m stuck.” 

“Can I see what you have?” Sansa asked, feeling strange that their places were suddenly reversed. Usually Theon was quick to share what he was writing it was why so many of his songs had cowriters on them. He got too in his own head and got stuck easily. 

“I’ll show you mine if you show me yours.” Theon replied immediately causing Sansa to sigh. She should have been expecting that. She blamed it on her lack of caffeine. 

“Why won’t you let this go?” she asked, propping her arm on the back of the couch and resting her head on it as she turned to look at him. 

Theon shrugged and plucked at his guitar strings, not looking up from his scribbled song. “Why don’t you trust me enough to share them?” 

Sansa felt her heart squeeze at his words. She hadn’t realized that was even in question. The majority of her songs were written when she was at her worst, she didn’t exactly like the idea of sharing those parts of herself with anyone else. “I do trust you Theon.” 

“Doesn’t feel like it. Sometimes I feel like you’re just in the band to kill time until you figure out what you really want to do next.” Theon’s words lacked any venom and that made her feel even worse. He just sounded resigned. 

“Is that how you really feel?” Sansa asked, her throat suddenly tight. 

Theon nodded slowly, finally looking over at her. 

“Do the others feel the same way?” This band was the best thing that had ever happened to her, it was the best thing in her life. How could they not know that? 

“Yeah. We have a bet on when you’ll quit.” Theon admitted causing Sansa to let her breath out in a whoosh. She didn’t know if she felt more sad or angry knowing that. 

“This band saved my life.” Sansa admitted in a whisper, finding it very hard to look at Theon but even harder to look away as he rose his eyes to hers. “I have no intention of quitting.” 

She knew that in this moment a gesture was going to speak louder than words so before she let herself think it through Sansa stood and walked over to where her keyboard rested. “One song Greyjoy.” she said as she unpacked it and came back to sit beside him, balancing the keyboard on her knees and nudging him to scoot over a little. “And I’m only playing it for you so don’t ask me to share it with anyone else.” 

Sansa waited for him to make some smug comment or tease her but he did neither, instead he just kept staring at her with eyes wide in anticipation. Sansa took a deep breath and smothered the nerves in her stomach. She had never played a song for someone else before and the fact that it was Theon who she knew was a skilled singer and writer only made it more daunting of a task. 

The melody was a haunting piece that she’d written shortly after returning to Winterfell but the lyrics were ones she had only finished right before the tour started. It was a song about learning to love herself after all she had been through and that she was not her past. When she was finished, she waited with her breath held for Theon to make fun of her or to say now he understood why she didn’t share her songs but he was still just staring at her. 

“Holy shit.” he finally said after a moment. 

“That bad?” she asked with a cringe. 

“You have to play that Sansa.” Theon said watching her with wide eyes. 

“No.” Sansa said immediately, rising to her feet to put her keyboard back in its case. 

“It’s a great song!” Theon cried following after her across the room. Sansa huffed as she got back to her feet after putting down her board. “People will go nuts for it.” 

“People will make fun of me for it.” Sansa reminded him. She knew what the tabloids used to say about her when she was a model. She hadn’t let herself read anything since returning to Winterfell and she was still on her social media cleanse. She had no doubt there was just as much trash about her out there now as there was back then. 

“Fuck them if they do!” Theon cried, throwing his hands in the air. He leaned over to grip Sansa’s upper arms gently, his eyes intense on hers. “It’s an honest song Sansa. Stop being so scared of what people will think.” 

“I’m not playing it.” Sansa said, shoving his arms off of hers gently. “Don’t ask me again.” 

She should have known Theon would never listen to her. 

_Greyjoy and Stark came to this realization themselves with the first release of Stark’s first solo written song, it is still unclear whether she wrote the song about Greyjoy but several people believe so._

His pestering got worse as the tour went on. First, he told everyone else in the band that Sansa had a killer song that she was denying them which only got Robb on board the train of pestering her. Jon seemed to understand her desire to keep the song private and he’d merely shrugged and said that Sansa could play the song when she was ready, they had plenty of other stuff. For once Arya was actually on Sansa’s side and she told Theon to fuck off nearly as much as Sansa did. 

And then on stage one night Theon did the unthinkable. He told their steadily growing crowd that Sansa was keeping music from them and he built the song up so much, calling it a ‘new soundtrack to our generation’, that Sansa knew that she could never play it now. She’d get laughed off the stage. 

“What the hell Theon!?” Sansa cried as they stepped backstage that night, curling her hands into fists to resist shoving him to get that stupid smirk off his face. 

“Our fans have a right to know!” Theon said placatingly, holding his hands up as if to calm her down. “They’re the reason we’re even here after all.” he reminded her. 

“You think I don’t know that?” Sansa asked with a huff before stepping away from him and running her hands through her hair. “I’ve told you I don’t want to share my lyrics.” 

“And I’ve told you I don’t understand why.” Theon stepped closer to her and slowly pulled her hands away from her face, before lightly tilting her chin to meet his eyes. His blue eyes were bright on hers and they did not waver as he whispered, “Your songs are good. I wouldn’t be bothering you if they weren’t.” 

Sansa was suddenly aware of how close they were and her heart began to speed up. She wasn’t sure if it was due to nerves or something else. “I’ll sing them when I’m ready.” she whispered, hoping that Theon would finally let this go. 

Instead, to her chagrin, he let out a humorless laugh and dropped his hands to his sides. “If we waited for that Sansa, you’d never sing them. One of these days you’re going to have to jump into this. Either you’re in this band all the way or you’re not.” 

_The catalyst for the beginning of their relationship, of course, came during their legendary performance of Stark’s songwriting debut, ‘The Worthy One’. Their unforgettable performance has the most hits of any of their YouTube videos to this day. _

Despite his harsh words Theon did not bring up the songs again on stage for a few weeks. Sansa wasn’t sure what brought about the change but she was grateful for it. With each concert they got further south and the closer they came to King’s Landing the harder it was for Sansa to sleep. She’d started to spend most of her nights playing video games she hated with Robb and Arya and when they finally crawled off to bed, she tinkered around on her keyboard trying to pretend she didn’t notice Theon watching her in concern. 

The night before their sold-out show in King’s Landing Theon surprised her by sitting next to her and placing his hand over hers on the keys, stilling her movement. Sansa looked over at him in surprise at the touch. 

“You should play this tonight.” Theon said, his usual smile when he pestered her over her music not on his face and his gaze uncharacteristically serious. 

Sansa immediately shook her head, she knew why he was suggesting it but that didn’t mean she had to agree with him. “I can’t.” Sansa whispered, refusing to look at him as she admitted it. This song was too personal, she was not ready to share it, especially not here. 

“I’ll sing it with you. Or fuck I’ll sing it for you. We should play it tonight.” Theon hadn't taken his hand off of hers and she felt it tighten against her fingers as he spoke. Sansa looked over at him wearily. “It’s time to jump Sansa.” 

“What if they laugh at me?” Sansa couldn’t help but ask, unable to shake the fear from her mind. She had been the butt of the joke for the last few months of her modeling career and it was not something she ever wanted to go through again. 

Theon shrugged. “They won’t. And if they do who gives a shit?” 

“The others will never go for it.” Sansa said shaking her head and slowly removing her hand from underneath his. She felt calmer now that she had found a way out of this. “The show is in fifteen hours. That’s not enough time to perfect a new song.” 

“Since when is music about being perfect?” Jon asked causing Sansa to look over at the doorway in shock. She hadn’t heard him approach. “Are we really going to sing one of your songs?” he asked, stepping further into the room. 

Sansa looked between him and Theon, both of whom looked back at her eagerly. She couldn’t believe that she was about to agree to this but Theon was right, she couldn’t keep waiting for the perfect moment. She was never going to be ready to share her songs with the world so she might as well do it now. Besides if it sucked and the crowd booed them off the stage Theon might finally drop the subject. 

“Read the lyrics first. See if it’s even something you think we should play.” Sansa grabbed her songbook where it sat next to her on the couch and flipped to the song she had shared with Theon all those weeks ago. She passed it to Jon with shaky fingers and tried not to study his face too hard as he read it. 

“I’ll go wake the others.” Jon said when he finished, passing the notebook back to Sansa who took it with a drop of disappointment. There went her last way out of this. It looked like she would be jumping after all. 

Theon let out a cheer as Sansa slumped back into her seat, her stomach rolling like she was at the top of a steep drop on a roller coaster and she could just make out the view at the bottom below. 

Sansa expected Robb or at the very least Arya to make fun of her lyrics or to say that they didn’t want to play her song with so little warning but to her surprise they were both all for it. Arya surprised her further by grinning at her after she read the lyrics and saying, “About time you finally know your value.” 

It was the nicest thing her sister had ever said to her. 

It was hard to practice the song on the bus but they managed and when they got to the venue, they immediately headed for the stage to practice. Sansa kept her gaze straight ahead as they practiced her song, refusing to look at any of the crew members working around them. Theon sang her words like she’d written them for him and when she joined in on the second verse her voice shook a little less each time they played. A few lyrics were altered in the process but by the time they had to head backstage to get ready the song actually sounded decent. Sansa wasn’t sure if it was the lack of sleep or the adrenaline at the thought of playing her own song that made her do it but as they followed everyone else to the dressing rooms Sansa grabbed Theon’s arm to hold him back for a moment. 

“Thank you.” she said softly before stepping forward shyly and wrapping her arms around his waist to hug him to her. Theon wound his arms around her slowly and Sansa couldn’t remember the last time someone held her so delicately. 

“For what?” he asked and Sansa was not surprised to see the confusion on his face as she pulled away from him. 

“For believing in me.” she said with a shrug suddenly unsure of what she should do with her hands. She missed her keyboard strongly in that moment. 

“Ah.” Theon rubbed at his curls self-consciously for a moment before he grinned shyly at her. “Well somebody had to do it.” 

The show passed in a daze that seemed both impossibly slow and hyper speed until before Sansa knew it Theon was speaking into the mic, “And now we have something very special to share with you King’s Landing!” 

Suddenly unable to look at him Sansa cast her eyes out into the crowd for the first time that night, hoping to see happy looks on their faces. Instead she felt her stomach bottom out as she caught sight of a familiar blonde head in the audience. Her blood turned to ice as Joffrey Baratheon turned to look at her like he could feel her eyes on him and even with thirty feet and several people between them Sansa could swear she saw him smirk. 

Theon was still talking but she wasn’t listening and Sansa suddenly felt the very urgent need to get out of there. She couldn't play this song now, not in front of _him_. She couldn't be there anymore. Before she even knew what she was doing Sansa was backing away from the keyboard and walking past the amps to slip backstage, her breath coming in painfully short gasps. 

“Shit.” Theon’s amplified curse broke through the fog in her mind and Sansa pressed her fists into her eyes as she stood backstage, knowing that she was disappointing all of them beyond measure right now. She just couldn't go out there and face that man, not again, not after what he had done to her. She was debating whether she should go back to the bus or just leave the band behind too when a voice cut through her frantic thoughts. 

“If you leave right now, I will never forgive you.” Theon’s voice held none of its usual warmth and Sansa groaned before slowly dropping her hands from her face to look at him. 

“The band will be fine without me.” she said softly, wrapping her arms around her middle like she could hold herself together that easily. 

“That’s not why I won’t forgive you and you know it.” Theon stepped closer to her; his gaze tight on hers. He was close enough that she could see the sweat on his brow as he whispered. “I will never forgive you if you let him win tonight.” 

Sansa flinched. She was hoping no one else had noticed Joffrey in the crowd. “It’s not that simple.” she whispered, embarrassed when her voice broke on the last word. 

“Why can’t it be?” Theon asked with a shrug, his eyes earnest. “Come back out there with me and sing your song and wipe that smug look off that dick’s face.” 

Sansa drew a shaky breath knowing that Theon was right, but knowing and being able to act on it were two very different things. But Joffrey Baratheon had taken so much from her already, was she really about to let him have this too? 

“We can even dedicate the song to the asshole if you want.” Theon said with a shrug causing Sansa to let out a startled laugh. 

“Let’s not go that far.” Sansa dropped her arms to her sides as she met Theon’s eyes with a newfound determination. “He doesn’t get anything else from me.” 

Theon grinned widely at her, “There’s the Sansa Stark I remember.” he offered his hand to her and Sansa took it, clutching his fingers so tightly it was a good thing he wasn’t playing guitar that night. “Let’s show them how it’s done.” 

Sansa’s heart pounded faster than any of Arya’s drum solos as Theon led her after him back onto the stage. The very confused crowd let out a loud cheer at their reappearance as Robb mouthed at her ‘You okay?’ She nodded yes even though she didn’t feel like it. 

Sansa tried to let go of Theon’s hand as they neared her keyboard but he gripped her fingers tighter and shook his head, pulling her after him to his microphone center stage. It was actually in its stand for once which had to be the first time all concert Theon had left it in there. He wasn’t much a fan for standing still. Sansa shook her head at him as he brought her to the mic and he grinned and nodded, covering the mic with his hand to block his voice as he put his mouth to her ear and whispered, “It’s your song, you should sing it.” 

Sansa pulled back to look at him, her stomach roiling with nerves even as she nodded slowly. “The song sounds better as a duet.” she leaned close enough to tell him and he paused for a moment before nodding at her. Theon motioned for Jon to start them off and Sansa untangled her hand from his, trying to ignore the tremble in her fingers as she wrapped them around the microphone stand. She had been afraid that Theon would walk away and leave her all alone center stage but to her relief he stayed beside her, backing up to give her a little bit of room as she began to sing. 

“Most nights I hate the girl I used to be/I wonder if my damage is all you see.” 

Now that she was singing the rest of the world faded away, she couldn’t see the crowd couldn’t hear the music. The only things that existed in the world were her and the microphone. 

Theon pressed a hand to the small of her back and suddenly he existed too. Sansa stepped to the side of the microphone giving him enough room to stand beside her. They were close to the same height so they were eye level as they sang into the microphone, their voices blending together seamlessly through the second first and into the chorus. 

“Some lessons are hard to learn/I've walked through enough fire to know when I’ve been burned/you won’t find me waiting for you anymore/you are not worthy of my love but I am worthy of me.” 

Theon’s eyes were bright on hers and Sansa found she could not take her eyes off of them as they continued the song. He sang the chorus one last time with her and the music came to a close but Sansa added one more line, her voice the only sound ringing out into the silence as she promised herself. 

“Someday I’ll find a love that’s worthy of me.” 

Theon smiled at her widely as Sansa finally let go of the microphone stand. Her fingers were barely away from it when he wrapped his arms around her, pulling her off her feet and swinging her in a circle as Sansa wrapped her arms around his neck and laughed as they spun. When he finally put her back down on the ground the roar of the crowd finally reached her ears and Sansa felt her smile grow so wide it was a wonder her face didn’t split in two. 

“I told you they’d love it!” Theon cried as Sansa looked out at the cheering crowd in wonder, Joffrey Baratheon no longer anywhere in sight. 

_The couple was quick to announce their new relationship and they did so in a way fitting for them, through music. Well music video to be precise. _

Playing her song that night was just what Sansa needed. It gave her the courage to share her songbook with the rest of the band and they picked two songs to work on for their next album. The bet on when Sansa would quit the band was finally demolished and they gave Sansa the money they’d bet as an apology for not believing in her. She used it to buy a better coffeemaker for the bus since none of them were sleeping very much anymore. They still had two weeks left on their tour and they had already written half of their next album. 

When the tour came to a close, they headed straight to the recording studio, intent on fleshing out what they had written. While they didn't have enough new material to produce a full album yet they were pretty close and they had one song their new producer, Davos Seaworth, wanted them to record and release right away. When Jon worried it was too soon after their tour to release new music Davos had quickly put his fears at ease, “That’s the best time to release new material lad. You need to capitalize on this momentum while you have it.” 

The song he wanted them to use for the first single in their new ‘era’, as their sound tech Margaery was calling it, was one that all five of them had written together during one of their sleepless nights on the bus. It was called _‘The Faces You Can’t See’_ and Davos wanted them to release a music video with it the same day it came out. They had only done two music videos for their last album, both very low budget ones as they didn’t have much capital to pay for much more and they refused to use their parent's money for it. One of the videos Bran had even directed so it was a little bit out there. 

For this video Davos wanted something a little bit more modern so he had hired a new up and coming director for the project. Ygritte Wilde was just as wild as her name suggested and the vision that she had for their video was much more risqué than the ones they had done in the past. She made their last two videos look like something children had made and it was not a pleasant feeling to be schooled so badly. Thankfully, their excitement at the thought of the finished project outweighed their embarrassment. 

As they neared the end of filming on the third night Sansa had a good feeling about the video, she had watched some of the takes on the playback camera and she thought it looked amazing. The others seemed to agree with her, especially Jon who had been peering over Ygritte’s shoulder any time he wasn’t actually on camera. 

“We need something more.” Ygritte mused, tapping a pen against her lip as she watched the last scene they had filmed playback with Robb and Arya ‘fighting’ in an underground ring. 

“Like what?” Theon asked, looking up from the popcorn he was trying to toss into the air and catch in his mouth. Sansa wrinkled her nose at him in disgust but when he threw another piece and actually caught it she couldn’t help but grin at the gleeful look he gave her. 

“Something romantic.” Ygritte said, turning her bright eyes on each of them in turn. Sansa shifted uneasily at her words. 

Romantic? That was going to be difficult when four of the five members were related by blood. That pretty much meant Theon was going to have a romantic scene with someone. Jon would never do it, not because Theon was a man but because neither of them really liked each other very much despite being in the same band and having known each other since childhood. In fact, maybe that was why they didn’t like each other very much. 

“I’m out.” Arya said, throwing up her hands and walking away to the snack table. Sansa watched her go wearily, she had been expecting that but still that left her or Robb who shrugged at her questioning gaze. 

“Theon you pick.” Robb said with a wink before he began to pose like he was on a magazine cover. Sansa rolled her eyes at her brother’s ridiculousness but it did help ease some of the tension in her shoulders. Theon looked between Robb and her slowly, his brow wrinkled in concentration before he sighed. 

“Robb you’re best friend and you’re hot as fuck but Sansa is just so much prettier.” 

Sansa tried to hide the shock the statement made her feel. She had always known she was pretty; one doesn’t become a model without knowing that, but knowing it and hearing Theon say it were two different things. She tried to hide her blush as she watched Robb throw his hands up in mock outrage and wander over to where Arya was trying to fit all of the food on the table onto one plate. 

“So Stark, up for a little romance?” Theon asked, looking at her with raised brows. Sansa had to admit she was a little impressed when he didn’t waggle them suggestively. 

She placed one hand over her heart and offered the other to him daintily, “Woo me Greyjoy.” 

Apparently when Ygritte said she wanted some romantic scenes what she really wanted was sultry scenes of Sansa and Theon almost making out. It was hard enough to film scenes where it looked like she wanted to jump Theon’s bones but it was made even harder by the fact that she could see her siblings egging them on from the corner of her eye. 

“Cut!” Ygritte called, her voice sharp before turning to glare at the other members of the band who quickly looked away from her and pretended to be innocent. Sansa huffed and turned to roll her eyes at Theon, having forgotten how close he was to her. They were standing in the alleyway of the set and Ygritte kept filming them standing there looking at each other longingly, calling ‘cut’ each time their lips got close to each other. She wanted the anticipation of a kiss to be the hook of the video. The first three times they had filmed it Sansa had been so nervous she thought she might throw up but ten takes later and she was cool as a cucumber. Her heart wasn’t even pounding anymore, this was Theon after all. 

It wasn’t like there was any real romance there. 

Ygritte stalked closer to them after shooing everyone else away. “I don’t feel the heat. Make me feel the heat.” 

Sansa sighed and resisted the urge to drop her head against Theon’s chest in frustration. This was starting to remind her too much of modeling and all the reasons she had left it behind. She was still trying to work out how to bring heat into the scene when Theon leaned down to whisper in her ear, “Do you trust me?” 

Sansa nodded without even having to think about it. She wouldn’t have agreed to film this scene if she didn’t. Being close to men that weren’t related to her was still hard for her, she had nearly jumped out of her skin the one-time Davos had placed a hand on her shoulder. Theon was the rare exception. 

“Okay action!” Ygritte called as she settled back into her chair. 

Sansa curled her fingers into Theon’s shirt as he rested his forehead against hers. Being the same height was proving to be really nice for this scene. Sansa shivered as he ran his fingers down her cheek like he had the last fourteen takes but she gasped as he wound an arm around her back and spun, pressing her against the fake wall of the alley. His nose brushed against hers and his lips were so close Sansa could feel his breath on her skin. She let her eyes flutter shut and resisted the sudden overwhelming temptation to close that last millimeter of distance between them. She twisted her fingers into his curls, only having a brief moment to wonder when the hell her hands had ended up in his hair, before Ygritte’s voice cut through to her. 

“Cut!” 

Sansa opened her eyes slowly and hoped that Theon would attribute her blush to the fact that they had to film a steamy scene rather than the fact that she had realized she really wanted to kiss him. 

His pupils were blown wide as he smirked at her and was it her imagination or did his hands linger on her waist as he pulled away? 

“Feeling wooed yet Stark?” he whispered as they walked back to the monitor to watch the playback. Sansa rolled her eyes at him and walked beside him as she tamped down forcibly on the sudden butterflies in her stomach at the thought of him. 

She’d had a lot of feelings for Theon Greyjoy over the years, annoyance being the number one among them. Now that they were bandmates, and quite possibly even friends, she was not about to let herself form a crush on him too. 

_If their performance in _‘The Faces You Can’t See’ _was anything like how they were in real life, I feel sorry for their band mates for having to be around that much heat._

Apparently, Ygritte’s romance scene had really helped sell the video to the viewers because within two days they got a text from Davos congratulating them on hitting a million views already. 

“Are we really that popular?” Sansa asked in surprise as she leaned over Robb’s shoulder to look at the video view count on his phone. 

He looked up at her in shock. “You’re kidding right?” he asked in wonder before shaking his head at her when she shrugged, “When is the last time you went online?” 

Sansa bit her lip and shook her head, pretending she didn’t remember. She knew for a fact that it had been fourteen months and nine days, the morning of the day she had fled King’s Landing. She hadn’t trusted herself to go online since. 

“Log into your Instagram.” Robb demanded looking around for her phone and frowning when he didn’t see her bright yellow case. Sansa pointed across the room to Theon who didn’t even look up from the chair he was slumped over in. His phone was dead and he was using her phone to play Candy Crush while they took a break for song writing. Sansa could smell the alcohol on him from across the room but she felt safer trusting him with her phone rather than tell him she had a charger in her bag. If he decided to drunk dial anyone in her phone the worst he could do was hit on her childhood best friend Jeyne Poole or make an ass of himself to her parents who were pretty used to that by now. 

Theon didn’t look up when Robb called his name so Arya let out a groan before reaching over and pulling the phone from his hands and tossing it to Sansa who caught it as Theon cursed at them all. 

“I’d almost won Arya!” he groaned before flopping his head back on the chair he was resting in. 

Sansa moved to sit in between Jon and Robb who watched over her shoulder as she redownloaded the Instagram app and logged in. 

“You even deleted the app? This cleanse was serious huh?” Jon asked in surprise. 

Sansa merely nodded and she held her breath as she logged in. The little notification button said 99+ but Sansa ignored it as she tapped over to her profile. She nearly dropped her phone in shock. 

“When did I hit a million followers?” she asked before looking around the room in surprise. 

“Probably during tour, the same time the rest of us did.” Robb said with a shrug as he took her phone from her to look something up. 

“Probably sooner. You had more than any of us to begin with.” Arya said, spinning her drumsticks around her fingers. Theon was watching her do it and he turned away, looking a little green. 

“Plus, you never post which makes you a mystery. People love a mystery.” Theon groaned as he settled further into the chair. Sansa frowned at him in worry as she tried to remember the last time she had seen him eat something. 

“Theonsa helps too.” Arya said, clacking her sticks together lightly to a slow beat. 

“Theo what?” Sansa asked peering over at her sister curiously. 

“Shut the fuck up Arya.” Theon groaned, throwing an arm over his eyes whether to block out the light or the rest of them Sansa wasn’t sure. 

“If she’s online she’s going to see it anyway.” Arya snapped, prodding him in the arm with one of her sticks, not very gently judging by the way he flinched. “It’s better to hear it from us.” 

“Hear what?” Sansa asked wearily looking between her bandmates nervously. She had known she was missing things by not going online but she thought that the others would have told her of anything important. 

“This.” Robb sighed as he passed her back her phone, the Instagram app now open to a search of #theonsa. 

The tag was filled with pictures of her and Theon, most were stills from the video but some were of them together on tour especially of the night they sang together. Sansa was surprised to see some older ones of them too from before they were even in a band, she had no idea how anyone had dug those up. 

“People think we’re dating?” Sansa asked, pointedly ignoring the swoop in her stomach at the thought. 

Theon grunted in agreement and Sansa looked at everyone else who all avoided her eyes except for Arya who had finally stopped spinning her sticks. 

“Why are you just now telling me this?” Sansa asked, certainly this was something that should have been shared with her. It affected the band after all. 

“Because it’s not important.” Theon cried, he had sunken so low into the chair it was a wonder to Sansa he hadn’t fallen out of it yet. “It doesn’t change the music and that’s what we’re here to do.” 

Sansa nodded in agreement and she exited the app before pulling up Candy Crush and tossing her phone back to Theon who barely caught it before it hit him in the face. He was right, it didn’t change anything, besides she was no stranger to people assuming she was dating every man she came into contact with. The media had loved to pair her up when she was a model, it was one of the many excuses Joffrey had used the countless times he’d cheated on her. This wasn’t the first time she’d had a ship name with someone she wasn’t dating. So why did she feel so weird about this one? 

_The couple fell into a love bubble and stepped out of the spotlight while recording their second album, _the Kingsroad. 

They were trying to scrape together two more songs before they sent their album to the record label to hear when Sansa finally finished packing up her childhood room. 

“You don’t have to do this you know.” Catelyn said from where she perched primly on the edge of Sansa’s bed which was the last thing in the room. “You can stay as long as you like.” 

“I know mom.” Sansa sighed as she sat next to her mom. She had signed a lease on a small apartment halfway between her family home and the recording studio. She had been living at home since she had returned over a year ago and she finally felt like she was strong enough to be out on her own again. Besides, if she stayed here she would never get any stronger and Sansa was determined to not let the brutality of her two years in King’s Landing destroy her life. 

“You’ll be okay on your own?” Catelyn asked, wrapping her arm around her eldest daughter's shoulders. Sansa rested her head on her mom’s shoulder and sighed. 

“I will.” Sansa didn’t say the rest of the words that she wanted too but she thought them, _I have to be. _

Living on her own was a luxury she had never had before. Sansa had gone from her parent’s house, to her college dorm, to a house with six other models, to Joffrey’s house to back to her parent’s house. She had never been able to bake cookies at three in the morning before when a craving hit out of fear of waking someone up or being judged. She’d never been able to pace her living room singing song lyrics to herself out of worry that someone would hear her. Sure, there were still nights when nightmares woke her up and she had to sleep with a nightlight but each day was getting a little bit easier. Each night that she spent alone she felt a little bit stronger. 

Sansa was determined to write a song good enough to be on the album by herself, now that she was back online she had unfortunately stumbled onto more than one comment about how _'The Worthy One’_ was a fluke or that it was only good because Theon ghost wrote it with her. Sansa wanted to show the haters who said the band would be just fine without her that she was important. The irony of her once being scared to share her songs to being determined to write one to share was not lost on her. 

It was a little after midnight and she was messing around with a new tune on the piano she had bought online secondhand when a sudden pounding at her door drew her attention. She looked up with a gasp and she felt her stomach plummet into her toes as she padded softly to the door. Nothing good could be on the other side of such knocking. Holding her breath like she was afraid that whoever was on the other side would be able to hear her if she inhaled Sansa peered through the peephole feeling something in her chest loosen in short lived relief as she recognized Theon. 

Then she noticed the blood staining his face and she quickly unlocked and flung open the door, stumbling in shock as he fell against her as she did so. The weight of the door had been the only thing holding him up. Sansa wrapped her arms around him and moved him to lean against the wall as she shut and secured the door. Theon groaned as she turned back to face him, surveying him with worried eyes. 

“What happened?” she asked frantically, her fingers hovering over the mess of blood that was his face unsure if she should touch it or not. 

“You should see the other guys.” Theon slurred, his words stringing together into one sloppy sentence. The smell of alcohol on his breath was what she imagined the inside of a distillery smelled like. “They were huge.” 

“We should go to the hospital.” Sansa said firmly, glancing around for her keys. She stopped when Theon put his hand on her arm. 

“No.” he whined, looking up at her with bloodshot eyes. “I want you to take care of me.” 

“Theon you could have a concussion.” Sansa reminded him worriedly. 

“That would be unfortunate.” Theon chuckled before his legs gave out and he slumped to the ground, looking around like he had no idea how he got there. 

Sansa took one look at him on the floor before she ran across the room to where her phone was and pressed the speed dial for Robb. 

The next morning Theon seemed content to pretend nothing serious had happened, still not telling them what had started the fight he’d been in. She had forgotten how stupid he could be at times. 

“You didn’t have to take me to the hospital.” Theon groaned yet again as he settled into the backseat with Sansa who reached around him to buckle his seatbelt. His ribs were badly bruised but she remembered how difficult it was to put on a seatbelt when hers were broken and she knew all too well that Theon was much too stubborn to ask for help. “When the media gets wind of this...” 

“We’ll deal with that if we have too.” Sansa cut him off, causing him to look over at her. “No point worrying about something when you don’t know if we need too.” 

Theon smiled at her but it quickly turned into a wince as it pulled on the stiches on his cheekbone. “When did we switch places Stark?” 

“When you showed up hammered on my doorstep last night.” Sansa reminded him softly as Robb pulled onto the freeway. She took a deep breath before meeting Robb’s eyes in the rearview mirror and he nodded at her. “We need to talk about your drinking.” 

Theon groaned. “I know I fucked up alright.” he sighed before glancing at Robb and then keeping his eyes on Sansa’s as he whispered, “I’ll get it under control. I promise.” 

_Not many photos were taken of them in this time but when they resurfaced for the release of their new album they couldn’t keep their hands off each other. _

Due to Theon’s injuries they had to push back the final recordings of their album a few weeks until the bruises on his ribs healed enough where he could sing without passing out from the pain. During that time, they did managed to write the final two songs of the album and the only thing left to record was Theon’s singing. Sansa was more than a little proud that her solo written song _'Sweet as Lemons'_, had made the cut. Maybe the haters would shut up about her song writing abilities now. 

By some miraculous stroke of luck, no news outlets had gotten wind of Theon’s hospital trip and they weren’t famous enough for paparazzi to follow them around. It helped that Winterfell wasn’t home to many famous people so not a lot of paparazzi hung out there. They tended to be located in King’s Landing and Dorne were celebrities tended to flock too. Not a lot of people wanted to hang out in the cold and take pictures. 

The label loved the album and were quick to set the ball rolling to getting it released. Eleven weeks of press interviews and two singles with music videos later and before Sansa knew it, they were walking into the album release party the label was throwing them. Sansa was expecting a party like the one they had for the first album, small with mainly family, friends, and a few people from the label in attendance. 

This party was not like that. 

They had been there for nearly an hour and Sansa had seen more people she didn’t know than those that she did. She forced herself to mingle with the crowd since it looked like no one else from the band was going too. Jon was sitting in the corner talking with Ygritte and Sansa hoped that amidst his awkward flirting he would be able to find a way to ask her to direct their next music video. The artistic direction of their last two had been nowhere close to the caliber of what she could come up with. Robb was trying to convince Margaery to dance with him and judging by the smile she was giving him it wouldn’t take much longer before she said yes. Arya was in what looked to be a very heated debate with a member of the new band the label had just signed and who there was talk about having them open for The Pack’s upcoming tour. Theon was at the bar with Davos and Sansa kept her fingers crossed the older man could keep his drinking in check. 

All of that left Sansa to schmooze with the bigwigs and by the end of the second hour her face hurt from all the smiling and she needed a very stiff drink. She slumped onto the barstool next to Theon who looked at her curiously as she sighed at the weight being lifted off her feet. She loved to wear heels but at what cost? 

Theon gestured at the bartender to pour him another drink which he passed to Sansa who took it appreciatively. 

“Your turn.” Sansa said with a groan as she settled into the seat. 

“My turn for what?” Theon asked, resting his arm on the back of her chair and leaning closer to hear her over the music. 

“Your turn to kiss strangers’ asses.” she whispered, turning to face him in time to see his appreciative smile that he always wore when she cursed. 

“Do I have too?” he whined, Sansa rolled her eyes and was about to respond when Theon’s face suddenly darkened at something over her shoulder. Sansa was about to look at what had caught his eye in curiosity but stopped when he put a hand on her arm. “Dance with me?” 

“Alright.” Sansa agreed, certain that the sudden warmth in her stomach came from her drink and nothing else. She downed it quickly in a move that made Theon grin at her and let him lead her out onto the dance floor. They were onto their third song when Sansa finally saw who had caught Theon’s gaze and she quickly pulled her eyes off of Petyr Baelish and back to Theon who was watching her worriedly. 

“We’ll make sure he’s not on the list next time.” Theon assured her, keeping his hands on her waist and pulling her closer like Baelish was going to walk over and demand her hand. 

Sansa had recently relocated to King’s Landing to attend university when Baelish discovered her and she quit school to take up modeling full time. The photographer had been well known for sleeping with his young muses but for some reason Sansa thought she was special when it had been her. She had been very wrong and Petyr’s manipulativeness and its consequences were not something she wanted to spend this night thinking about. This was a night of celebration and no one was going to ruin that for her. 

“I don’t care.” Sansa whispered, surprised that she actually meant it. All thoughts of Baelish fled from her mind and she let out a startled laugh when Theon suddenly dipped her. 

_Too bad true love is never without its problems. Trouble first started for the couple on tour for their second album where rumors that Stark was straying first began to arise. _

Of course, photos were taken at the party and for the next week and a half all Sansa saw on the internet were the photos of her and Theon dancing. Even she had to admit it looked like something romantic was going on between them, especially the photos of them at the bar with his arm on her chair and their faces tilted together like they were sharing secrets. If Sansa wasn’t one of the two people in the photographs and knew for a fact that nothing was happening between them, she would have thought they were a couple or at the very least sleeping together. Which was coincidentally what the rest of the world thought about them. 

As their fame steadily grew the record label suggested they hire a publicist and helped them find a great one, Shae, who told them to ignore the rumors. No one would believe them if they denied them and by not addressing them, they were only building more intrigue and fame. Sansa didn’t know how much of that was true but she trusted Shae enough to listen to her. 

Tickets to their tour sold out within days of them being released for sale and the thought of playing such packed stadiums had Sansa sleepless with nerves. She was not the only one the upcoming tour was affecting because she noticed Theon drinking more and more. She tried to talk to him about cutting back but he merely laughed and promised her he had it under control. Since he didn’t drive and he hadn’t been in any more fights Sansa chose to believe him. They weren’t even a full month into tour when that proved to be a terrible idea. 

Theon started stumbling over words during the shows and more than once he simply stopped singing mid line, thrusting the microphone out towards the audience like he wanted them to sing the song for him. Sansa knew him well enough to know that wasn’t what had happened, he was so drunk he had forgotten the lyrics. 

Every night became a battle of telling him to quit drinking before he ruined himself or the band and every night, he gave more and more empty promises they all knew he had no intention of keeping. It wasn’t until he had tripped over his own two feet at a show and fell on stage that Robb flatly refused to go back up on stage with him again if he’d been drinking that Theon finally understood how serious they all were about this. After that he cut his drinking back until after they were off stage for the evening. It wasn’t what the rest wanted but it was a start. 

During the chaos of this time the dating rumors of #theonsa only got worse. Paparazzi had taken to hanging out at the venues, using long range cameras to snap pictures of the band as they walked back to the bus at night. They got more than one picture of Theon and Sansa ‘cuddling’ on the way across the parking lot. What the cameras weren’t close enough to see was that he was too drunk to stand up on his own and refused to let anyone else help him. Sansa was more dragging him to the bus than walking with him. 

As Theon cut his drinking back to ‘after hours’ as he called it, #theonsa took a blessed step back from the spotlight as the media had something else to focus on about The Pack, since it seemed they never really wanted to focus on their music. One of those long-range cameras had caught Arya making out with the guitarist of their opening band, the Brotherhood Without Banners, and now the media was painting them out to be star-crossed lovers of rival bands never mind the fact that the bands were happily on tour with each other and there was no animosity between them. Arya and Gendry handled the rumors much better than Sansa did, laughing it off with ease. Maybe it helped when you were actually dating the person everyone thought you were. 

The rest of the tour passed quickly, the only thing really setting apart the shows and towns was when she hunted down postcards to send to Rickon and Bran. She’d promised to send them one for the most ridiculous landmark she could find in every city. Her favorite find so far had been the world’s largest suit of armor in the Trident. 

It was their first international tour but they weren't given a lot of time for sightseeing so Sansa really didn’t feel like she could cross a lot of the countries off of her travel bucket list. They had only a few weeks left of tour when they reached the States and Sansa was surprised that the media coverage there was even more than in Westeros. It seemed like everywhere she went she caught someone taking a picture of her and she had taken more selfies with fans than she had the rest of tour combined. Countless strangers asked her if her and Theon were dating and each time she deflected the question. She was getting really tired of that rumor by this point. 

The bands were walking back to the buses after what Sansa felt had to be one of their best shows in America when sudden shouting caught her attention. Robb looked over his shoulder with a curse and started gesturing for them to hurry up and get to the bus. Sansa looked back curiously and sighed as she noticed a man with a camera heading towards them quickly, the sound of his camera shutter snapping audible even from feet away. 

“Can I get a quote guys?” the man asked, hurrying until he was close enough to them that the bright flashes of his camera left spots behind Sansa eyes. 

“Yeah, fuck off.” Arya snapped, as Gendry flipped the photographer off making the photos unusable. Sansa wished she could handle the paparazzi in the same way but it always made her feel so rude and she hated feeling rude. 

Perhaps that was why the man chose to single her out, out of everyone there. “Sansa is it true you’re cheating on Theon?” 

Sansa reeled back like she had been slapped. How could one cheat on someone she wasn’t even dating? 

“What the fuck did you say?” Theon, who had been pointedly ignoring the man and letting Jon lead him back to the bus suddenly stopped and turned back, his blue eyes narrowed in a glare. Sansa felt her heart sink at the look. There was no way this ended well. 

“She’s been spotted out with Anguy Storm several times.” the man talked quickly even as he kept snapping pictures. 

Sansa turned to look at the bassist of the Brotherhood who shook his head at her questioning gaze, apparently, he hadn’t known they were being photographed either. There was no romance between them, he was just the only one between the two bands who would go on her tourist excursions with her. Well Arya and Gendry went on a couple but Sansa got sick of watching their PDA so she stopped asking them. 

“And you think that means they’re fucking around?” Theon asked angrily as he took a step forward. His words came out clear enough but Sansa recognized the way he stumbled as he stepped and she realized with a growing sense of horror that he was drunk. “This may come as a shock but men and women can just be friends!” 

“Theon let it go.” Sansa said quickly, stepping past the photographer to place a hand placatingly on Theon’s chest. His heart was pounding against her palm as he looked down at her. 

“He insulted you.” Theon whispered, keeping his eyes locked on hers even as Sansa shook her head frantically. 

“I don’t care.” she whispered forcibly trying to push Theon backwards towards the bus. During the commotion the remaining members of the Brotherhood had come out of their bus, drawn by the noise and the flashing light of the camera. Sansa saw Sandor Clegane pushing up his sleeves as he approached and she knew they needed to get out of here fast before it got ugly. 

“Joffrey Baratheon says you cheated on him before so why should we think you wouldn’t cheat on Theon?” the man called as Sansa tried to shove Theon away from him. Sansa felt her blood turn to ice and she looked over at the man in shock. 

“What?” She had never once cheated on Joffrey. He had been the one with a revolving door of partners. She had been loyal to a fault to a man who deserved none of her love. Theon let out a growl beside her and gently removed her hand from his chest before stepping around her. Sansa had a moment when she could have grabbed his arm to pull him to a stop but she didn’t and the next thing she knew he was swinging his fist at the man’s face. 

Theon missed by a breath as Arya had suddenly jumped onto his back, pulling him up short. Theon spun in a circle and tried to toss her off of him but she held on tight, somehow managing to force him to his knees and then pinning him to the ground. Meanwhile the camera kept flashing and several people shouted until a sudden deep growl cut through all the commotion. 

“The camera or your face.” Sandor had stepped into the line of view of the camera and the man holding it had to crane his head back to look at his face. Even from where Sansa was kneeling on the pavement with Theon and Arya she could hear the man audibly swallow. 

“Neither?” he squeaked out, taking a small step backward. 

“Not a fucking option you twat.” Sandor reached forward and easily plucked the camera out of the man’s hands not even hesitating before he threw it to the ground. The sound of the lens shattering was lost due to the man’s shriek of outrage. 

“You’ll pay for that!” 

“Buy a new one with the photos you fucking vulture.” Gendry snapped as he approached the man who quickly knelt to scoop up the remains of his camera, cursing them all as he sped away. 

“Where the hell is security?” Jon huffed, running his hands through his hair as the man disappeared into the dark and Theon finally stopped struggling to get up. 

They managed to get back to their sperate buses without further incident and the moment the band was alone again Sansa shoved Theon down into a chair. He looked up at her with a huff of indignation. 

“You have to quit drinking.” Sansa declared sternly, crossing her arms over her chest as she glared down at him. 

Theon sputtered. “Me?” he put his hands against his chest and looked up at her with wounded eyes that Sansa didn't buy for one second. “He insulted you! I was defending you!” 

“You were drunk and mad and you were going to hit him.” Sansa shook her head. “He could have pressed assault charges if Arya hadn't stopped you.” 

“You’re welcome by the way.” Arya added from where she stood scowling by the door like she was trying to block anyone who might dare to try to enter. Or leave, in Theon’s care. 

“I’m not drunk.” Theon scoffed making Sansa narrow her eyes at him. 

“Theon you’ve been drunk since the tour started.” she knelt down so that she was eye level with him and he pointedly refused to meet her gaze, focusing instead at a spot over her shoulder. “Theon look at me.” Sansa whispered, needing him to look at her as she came to a decision she hadn’t even known she had been making. He stubbornly avoided her eyes, his teeth clenching as she put her hand under his chin and turned his gaze to meet hers. For a moment she thought he would simply close his eyes and childishly refuse to look at her but he didn’t. His eyes were bright as they met hers and Sansa wondered for a moment if it was due to the drinks or tears. 

“I cannot stand back and watch you destroy yourself.” Sansa whispered, her fingers digging into Theon’s chin as if she could force the truth of her words through her fingertips and into his skin. “If you don’t sober up, I will walk.” 

Theon let out a laugh but when Sansa didn’t smile or look away the grin slipped off his face. “Are you serious?” he whispered, his voice catching on the last word. 

Sansa nodded, feeling her throat start to burn with tears she refused to shed. She had watched Theon destroy himself for long enough. She was furious with herself for even letting it go on this long. He kept telling her that he had it under control and like a fool she had gone and believed him. 

“You have to make a choice Theon.” her eyes searched his as if she could get him to pick the choice she wanted him too through words alone. “The alcohol or the music.” 

Theon rose his hand to hers and Sansa thought for one terrifying moment that he was going to shove her away but instead his fingers curled around her hand and he clung to her like a lifeline. “That’s not the choice and you know it.” he whispered, so softly that Sansa had to lean forward to hear him better. 

“What is the choice then?” she asked, matching his volume as she leaned so close her hair brushed his shoulder. 

Theon leaned forward suddenly, dropping his forehead against hers. Sansa froze at the sudden contact but it couldn’t have been more than a few seconds later that Theon pulled away and she was left wondering if it had even happened at all. 

“One I’ve already made.” Theon took a deep breath as he slowly pulled Sansa’s hand off his face and looked at each person in the room. “Get me through the rest of the tour and I’ll do the rest. I’ll go to rehab when we get back.” 

“You’re not going to like us very much.” Robb said with a shake of his head as he came to sit on the chair next to Theon. “But we can do it.” 

Theon took a deep breath and nodded before looking across the bus at Arya. “You might have to hold me down again.” 

Arya shrugged with a grin that didn’t quite meet her eyes. “Easy enough.” 

_When asked about the rumors Greyjoy became extremely agitated, clearly he did not take well to people insulting his relationship with unfounded claims. _

The photos were everywhere the next day as well as the rumors that Sansa was cheating on Theon. The man chose not to press charges against Sandor for breaking his camera but that was the only silver lining out of the whole mess. Well that and it brought the two bands even closer together, they now walked back to their buses together each night in the chance that someone managed to get through the increased security to harass them. There was even talk of doing a collaboration one day. 

It was easier to focus on ideas like that or talk of the future than it was to think about Theon checking into rehab. He spent most of the days puking and shivering but somehow, he managed to pull himself together enough to go up on stage every night although with each passing show Sansa could see it taking more of a toil on him. He wasn’t jumping around the stage nearly as much as he used to and during the last two shows he didn’t move away from the mic stand once. 

It was a relief to all of them when they finally made it back to Westeros but Sansa and Theon didn’t head home to Winterfell with the others. Instead she went with him to Dragonstone to check him into rehab. He had told her that he would be just fine doing it himself but Sansa flatly refused to let him face this alone. Despite what Theon thought, it wasn’t that she didn’t trust him to actually check in she just thought he shouldn’t have to take this step thinking he had no one beside him while he did it. What happened in rehab was up to him but that didn’t mean he had to go in thinking he would be alone when he came out. 

“Well see you in twelve weeks I guess.” Theon shrugged as he passed the nurse at the registration desk his paperwork and turned back to face Sansa. 

“It’ll be over before you know it.” Sansa reassured him, placing a hand on his arm in comfort. Theon looked down at it for a long moment before he rose his eyes back to hers. 

“Don’t let the media find out I’m here.” he whispered causing Sansa’s fingers tightened around his bicep at the fear in her eyes. He rarely cared what anyone said or thought about him, least of all the media. She hoped her insecurities weren’t rubbing off on him. 

“I thought you didn’t care what they thought.” 

Theon shrugged turning away from her to look around the clean and empty lobby. “I do about this.” 

Sansa tightened her hand on his arm making Theon turn back to look at her again. “No one will know but the band. I promise.” 

Theon nodded, flinching when a different nurse opened the door at the end of the hallway and called his name. “No turning back huh?” 

“You can do this. I believe in you.” Sansa whispered before surprising them both and closing the little bit of distance between them to wind her arms around Theon’s neck, pulling him against her. He put his arms around her back slowly at first but then he clung to her, burying his face in her hair and taking a deep breath. 

For a long moment neither of them moved until the nurse called his name again and Theon pulled away with a sigh. His eyes were bright on hers as he gave her a smile that didn’t quite meet them. “Don’t go letting the others replace me alright Stark?” he said as he stepped out of the circle of her arms and began to walk backwards towards the nurse. 

Sansa shook her head as she let out a humorless laugh. “Replace you? Never.” 

_In the end these rumors proved to be just that, rumors, and Greyjoy and Stark took to the internet to assure fans that their love was still as strong as ever. _

She never would have thought that twelve weeks could feel like twelve years and twelve minutes all at the same time. Sansa kept her promise and she kept the media attention away from Theon’s absence by posting pictures of them on her Instagram. She figured those rumors had to be good for something at some point. Theon had given Shae, one of the few people outside of the band who knew where Theon really was, access to his Instagram and twitter accounts and she posted a variety of prearranged tweets and pictures so that no one would think he was unavailable. Sansa gave her the okay to post a solo picture of her on Theon’s page and that fed the rumor mill so much she didn’t have to post anything for a whole week to keep attention on them. 

Sansa had offered, as had the rest of the band, to go and meet Theon at Dragonstone when the three months were up but he insisted that he would be fine making his way home alone. By the time the day of his release arrived she felt ready to burst she was so nervous to see him. She couldn’t remember the last time she had seen Theon truly sober, what if rehab hadn’t been enough for him? What if he started drinking again? She had to physically shake the thoughts from her head, she hadn’t even seen Theon yet she had no right to be doubting him. Besides, he had believed in her at her worst so she was going to believe in him at his. 

The sound of the front door being opened caught her attention and Sansa looked up as Theon’s familiar voice called, “Everybody stop being weird!” 

“No one said anything!” Robb cried as he stood up from the chair to grab Theon into a hug as he came into the room. 

“That’s the weird part!” Theon chided as he pulled away from Robb to look around the room. He met Sansa’s eyes and winked and she could no longer hold back her smile at seeing him. 

“I know you are not wearing shoes in my house Theon Greyjoy.” Catelyn said as she stepped out of the kitchen to glare at the dirty boots still on Theon’s feet. 

Sansa let out a breath of relief at the grin that broke across Theon’s face at the admonishment. 

“Sorry Mrs. Stark. Won't happen again.” he called as he headed back to the front door to leave his shoes there. 

“We all know that’s not true.” Eddard said with a shake of his head but he was smiling so Sansa knew he didn’t really mind. 

Being around Theon sober was surprisingly a lot like being around Theon when he was drunk except his words came out clearer. Once he was out of rehab, he wasted no time in calling the band together again and they crowded around the table at the house Jon, Robb and Theon lived in to talk about their next album. 

“How many songs do we have?” Theon asked, rubbing his hands together as he looked at them eagerly. They all shifted awkwardly under his gaze which made Theon narrow his eyes at them in silent warning. “You have been writing right?” He groaned at everyone’s sudden refusal to look at him and turned to Sansa desperately. “You’re my secret songbird, don’t let me down Sans.” 

Sansa blushed at the new nickname before she admitted sheepishly. “I do have a few things I’ve been working on.” 

“I knew I could count on you. Let’s hear them!” 

Theon attacked their music with a renewed vigor that they hadn’t seen since the end of their first tour. He was adamant that they have more songs on this album written as a band and for a few weeks Sansa thought this might be a group therapy practice he had learned in rehab or a way to bring the band closer together after his absence but they were hanging out at her apartment one night after everyone else had left when Sansa realized something. 

“You haven’t shown us anything you’ve written.” she remarked, looking up from the pages spread across the floor around her to look at Theon curiously. 

“I told you I want to focus on you guys writing this album.” Theon said strumming on his guitar and not looking over at her. 

“Theon...” Sansa whispered, twisting around to rest her arm on the couch beside him and peer up at him. 

“Sansa...” Theon mimicked, stopping his strumming to grin down at her. His smile faded at the serious look on her face and he went back to strumming absentmindedly. Sansa was beginning to think she might have to drop it for the evening before Theon blurted, “I finally get it. Why you didn’t want to share your songs in the beginning.” 

Sansa rocked back a little at that. She hadn’t thought he would ever admit something like to her, he didn’t very much like to say when he was wrong and that was as close as he was likely to get. 

“The stuff I’ve been writing its really personal.” Theon shrugged still refusing to look at anything but the guitar in his hands. 

Sansa bit her lip, she remembered well how hard it had been for her to share her songs and she didn’t want Theon to put too much pressure on himself so soon after rehab. But she also knew Theon and him keeping his songs private was probably worse than him being scared while sharing them. They were very different that way. 

Theon stopped strumming as Sansa placed her hand on his knee and he looked over at her slowly. Sansa smiled softly as she repeated words he had said to her all those months ago. “That’s all the more reason to share them.” 

_Or at least that’s how it seemed. You never really do know what’s happening on the other side of the camera. _

Once Theon had gotten over his desire to keep his songs to himself the band was able to work together and create their next album in a whirlwind of sleepless nights and baskets full of crumpled up notebook paper. The songs were much rawer and more honest than the majority of what they had sung before and Sansa knew the moment that she saw Margaery sit up straighter at the recording of their first song that they had something great. 

The fans and critics alike went wild over the album,_ Shivers_, and Sansa felt like she didn’t even have time to breathe between recording the album and being thrust into interviews talking about it. They were still planning their next tour which was going to have fifteen more shows than their last one and Sansa felt like she hadn’t slept for three months and had no time in sight when she would get to sleep again. 

In the midst of all of the album chaos the media spotlight was back on Theon and Sansa and she found it annoyed her even more than before. It didn’t help things that it was getting harder and harder to ignore the flutter in her heart every time he smiled at her or touched her arm. Having feelings for Theon was only going to complicate things and Sansa had been through enough messy relationships to last her a lifetime. Not only was he her brother’s lifelong best friend but he was her bandmate. He also used to be quite the womanizer although it had been a while since Sansa had seen anyone hanging off his arm. If she dated Theon and then they broke up, she didn’t know if she could keep playing in the same band as him and the music meant too much to her to risk losing it, especially over something as silly as a crush. The feelings would die out over time. 

That didn’t mean she couldn’t help kill the feelings faster. 

A friend of her mom’s, Brienne, had been trying to set her up with a friend for weeks. One night after she had gotten goosebumps from Theon resting his arm on the couch behind her during an interview Sansa texted Brienne back and finally agreed to it. 

Podrick Payne was handsome in a subtle sort of way and he was a successful author of historical fiction novels which was a genre Sansa was quite fond of. He was easy to talk to and he made her laugh and all in all the date had been very enjoyable. 

Except for the fact that she couldn’t get Theon out of her head the whole time. 

Since that was her fault and nothing to do with Podrick, Sansa invited him on another date, and then another. Each time she spent it wondering what Theon was up to or thinking of things she wanted to tell him later. When Podrick leaned in to kiss her on the third date Sansa let him and it was not lost on her that this was her first kiss since Joffrey. He pulled away after only a moment and Sansa looked at him for a long second until he sighed and stepped away from her, shoving his hands in his pockets. 

“You don’t feel it either?” Podrick asked, causing Sansa to look at him in surprise. He smiled shyly at the look on her face. “Sorry, I mean you’re really great it’s just-” 

“No spark.” Sansa offered, shaking her head as she let out a relieved breath. “I feel the same about you.” 

“Friends?” Podrick asked cautiously as if he was scared Sansa would deny him. She wouldn’t have gone on three dates with him if she didn’t at least like his company. She was glad they were on the same page about each other. She would have felt terrible having to end things with him if he had liked her. 

“Friends.” Sansa agreed smiling. 

She was tinkering around on the piano and nursing a glass of wine later that evening when her phone buzzed with a text message and Sansa looked at it curiously. 

**Theon:** I hear you’ve found a new boyfriend. I am hurt I had to find on twitter Stark. 

Sansa frowned at the message, both because he was back to referring to her by her last name and because she hadn’t realized that her and Podrick had been caught on camera. Part of her was tempted to look online and see what was being said about her but that was a can of worms she suddenly felt no desire to open. 

Maybe it was that sudden burst of ‘don’t give a fuck’ attitude or maybe it was the wine but Sansa didn’t let herself overthink it before she texted him back. 

**Sansa:** Turns out he’s just a friend. You know you’re the only one for me Greyjoy. 

_No one is entirely sure when or why Greyjoy and Stark split up but fans were not happy to see her out and about with her new beau, Podrick Payne, on the eve of their third tour. _

She hung out with Podrick twice more before they left for tour, both knowing very well they were just friends. As usual the media did not get the memo. Apparently, her being seen with another man, the sudden lack of pictures of her and Theon, and the raw songs about loss on the album meant that #theonsa was caput. 

Sansa didn’t have the heart to tell anyone that their ship had never even sailed. 

To both her relief and frustration Theon never addressed the text she had sent, he had only responded with a heart eyed emoji which Sansa had no idea how to interpret. At Shae’s advice they refused to address the comments that they were no longer a couple, knowing it would only make things worse to address the rumor now. 

Tour started and Sansa found it getting harder and harder to share such close quarters with Theon. It didn’t help that they were touring with the Brotherhood again and Arya and Gendry decided to make out all over the bus. It was really hard to have a conversation with Theon, or anyone really, while her sister sucked face nearby. 

This was their third tour so it was easier for Sansa to settle into tour life than it had been before. She still got up earlier than everyone else and she had invested in noise canceling headphones during the last tour so she was able to sleep peacefully each night. She found herself using the mornings to write again and to her immense embarrassment she found that the majority of the songs she was writing were about Theon. 

Her attempts to kill her crush had not been as successful as she had hoped. 

She kept the songs to herself but Theon had come upstairs in the morning and caught her quickly closing her notebook more than once. He had yet to ask her about it, choosing instead to raise his brows at her and make bets on when Robb was finally going to ask out Margaery. He was talking to her on the phone nearly every night and despite the fact that she was single now he had yet to make a move on her. 

The tour passed even faster than the last one, this time with no unfortunate incidents with paparazzi. Instead of spending the nights going out with fans and drinking like last tour Theon instead choose to spend the time they weren’t rehearsing or performing hanging out on the bus with the band, usually watching bad B-list movies or playing video games. Sometimes members of the Brotherhood joined them, sometimes they hung out alone. When it was just the five of them, or even when Gendry was there too, it was easy for Sansa to forget they weren’t in her living room at home. When it was the six of them, she found she could forget that they were world known rockstars. Sometimes, she wondered what her life would look like if Theon hadn't asked her to join the band but all she had to do was look at them to shake that thought from her head. There was no way that life would be better than this one. 

She was grateful when tour finally came to an end because she had missed sleeping in her own bed. Plus, she needed some time away from Theon. He had taken to sitting next to her on the bus a lot and it was getting harder with each day not to lean against him or take his hand in hers. 

Unfortunately, she didn’t get too much of a respite from him because six weeks after tour ended the band was all back together again decked out in black tie to attend the Vāedars. It was the nation’s most prestigious music award show of the year and this time they were nominated in five categories. They had attended with their last album which had been nominated for ‘Rock Album of the Year’ but they had lost to the Firstmen. This year they were set to be the front runners for every category they were in and Sansa felt sick with nerves at the thought of having to walk onto the stage and say a speech. Public speaking was not something she was a fan of, especially when televised live. 

Sansa had brought Bran as her ‘date’ and as she posed for pictures with him Sansa pointedly ignored the shouted questions of where Podrick was and whether or not her and Theon were back together. Theon had brought his mostly estranged sister Yara with him as his date because she’d finally managed to secure some time off from the private security firm she worked for. The Pack was performing a song that night and this would be the first time she had actually seen them perform live. 

The red carpet was a blur as was their performance, Sansa had never felt more nervous in her life as when she had walked up on the stage with the others to accept the award for ‘Rock Album of the Year’. She had stammered out something about thanking her family and the band and Theon for making her join them but the rest was a haze. As such she couldn’t understand how Theon looked so calm when he went up alone to accept the award for ‘Rock Song of the Year.’ 

The song they were nominated for, _‘Bottom of the Barrel’_ was one that Theon had written himself about recovery and as such they had agreed when they got the nomination that if they won, he would accept the award alone. Sansa stood with the rest of the band as he took the award and she was pretty sure the only person clapping louder than her was Yara beside her. 

Theon hadn’t wanted anyone to hear his speech before he gave it because he claimed he didn’t want to jinx it so Sansa was sitting on the edge of her seat as he began to talk. 

“Thanks for this, this is going to make an awesome hat stand.” Theon gestured with the trophy and Sansa let out a surprised laugh with the majority of the audience. “This song is very important to me and the reception to it has been more than I ever could have hoped for. I want to take this moment to thank the fans for letting us play our music for a living.” A sudden familiar grin broke across Theon’s face and Sansa felt her stomach clench at the sight. She had a feeling she wasn’t going to like whatever it was Theon said next. 

“I wouldn’t be here without my bandmates, my family. They have supported me through the worst and the best moments of my life as families do. Families also give you tough love which is something I clearly haven’t been doing well enough, but I figure now is as good a time as any.” The smile was suddenly wicked and Sansa resisted the urge to bury her face in her hands. This was why she had hoped to hear his speech beforehand. Theon could be so unpredictable. 

“So, Jon smile once in a while you’re getting frown lines.” Jon flipped him off and Sansa hoped whoever was working the camera was able to edit that out or cut away quick enough. Ah, the perils of live broadcasts. “Arya stop making out with Gendry everywhere it’s disgusting.” Arya flipped him off too before she turned and kissed Gendry on the mouth while Theon grimaced. “Robb ask Margaery out already, this is getting ridiculous.” Robb threw his hands up in a ‘dude wtf’ gesture and Sansa turned her gaze back to Theon and tried to keep her face devoid of emotion, knowing that the cameras were pointing at her even if she couldn’t see them. Theon locked eyes with hers as he finished, “Sansa stop hiding your songs from us. I am sure they are as perfect as everything else you do.” 

Sansa let out a relieved breath at that, it wasn’t as bad as she had been expecting. Theon said thank you one more time before he headed off the stage to polite applause. They won four of the five awards they were nominated for but his was the only speech that stood out in Sansa’s mind. The rest of the night was one long, surreal daze and she wasn’t sure if it was her imagination or not but she was pretty sure Theon never took her eyes off of her the rest of the night. 

_Payne and Stark’s relationship proved to be short lived and after Greyjoy’s speech at the Vāedars fans began to realize that their love might not be over yet after all. Or at the very least, he did not seem to be over her. Stark’s feelings at this point in time are still unclear. She claimed in an interview that Greyjoy was just a friend but their actions say otherwise. _

Despite the fact that she could no longer deny to herself that she had a crush on Theon Sansa was determined not to act on it. She was tempted to go on another social media cleanse since every time she logged on, she saw another tweet or gossip article about Theon’s speech being a sign that he was not over her. There was some debate whether it meant they were going to get back together or if Sansa had moved on. As much as she hated herself for it, she kept reading the articles, wondering if maybe the authors were right and Then did have feelings for her. 

She always got mad at herself when she had such thoughts, the media had been wrong about them dating for years they weren’t exactly a reliable source for information. 

Arya and her were asked to interview for a new magazine that focused on women in the music industry and it was a welcome relief to have her contribution to the band taken seriously. Sansa was often looked at as the ‘extra’ member of the band. Sansa found herself really liking the interviewer and the seriousness of her questions until the very end when she turned her green eyes to Sansa and lowered her voice conspiratorially like they were good friends and she wasn't about to print whatever Sansa said in response. 

“I have to ask, are you and Theon Greyjoy back together?” 

Sansa could practically hear Arya rolling her eyes beside her and she knew that if she wanted to kill those #theonsa rumors once and for all, now was the time. Despite what Shae advised she could deny that they had ever even been together so they couldn’t very well be back. She knew the smart answer would be to say ‘no comment’ but instead Sansa chose not to listen to herself about either of those options. 

“Theon is a wonderful musician and a dear friend. That’s all I’m going to say about him.” Sansa forced herself to keep a calm smile on her face at the interviewer’s look of disappointment and she refused to meet Arya’s curious gaze until they were leaving the restaurant. 

“What?” Sansa asked in exasperation, sick of feeling Arya’s eyes bore holes into her back. 

“Nothing.” Arya shrugged in mock innocence before smirking at her knowingly, “I just didn’t realize Theon was so _dear_ to you.” 

“Shut up.” Sansa groaned as a light snow began to fall around them. Winter had already come to the North. 

In the weeks it took before the article printed Sansa had managed to convince herself that the reporter would not put in her answer about Theon but of course she did. It was the ending comment so that was what people reading the article were left with, not the thought that Arya and her had a combined lyrist’s credit on seventeen songs on the three albums which was more than enough songs to have an album of their own if they wished. Sansa was frustrated to put it lightly and she chose to ignore the article, deciding to spend the night in with the piano instead of going out with the band to celebrate the publicity. 

Once again, her playing was distracted by her phone going off and Sansa groaned as the buzz tore her mind from the melody in her head. She had to remember to start turning that on silent. 

**Theon:** You’re a dear friend to me too Sans. 

Sansa blushed down at the text and she clutched her phone to her chest for a moment before the last word really sunk in. _Friend._

Turned out all it took was six little letters to stab her crush through the heart. 

_The band retreated from the limelight for several months while writing their fourth and current album and anyone who has listened to the album can tell, it really paid off. _

They decided to take a little time off before working on their fourth album, knowing that after the reception of the last one their next one had to be even better. Just as good wouldn’t cut it for this. They had to write something wow worthy. 

They met up twice a week to share what songs they had written and talk about directions they wanted the album to go in. It seemed like the direction was going to end up being love songs as that was the majority of what the others were handing over. Robb had finally asked out Margaery who of course said yes and Jon had admitted that he had been dating Ygritte since the release party of their second album, a fact that no one was really shocked by. He wasn’t very good at being secretive about it. Arya was still sickeningly in love with Gendry which meant that the only two single members of the band were Sansa and Theon, who only thought of her as a friend. 

Not that Sansa was still upset over this fact of course. 

She was, however, very confused. In addition to their weekly meetings Theon was constantly coming over to her apartment unannounced to write songs with her or play around with some new tune he was working on. He said it was because he couldn’t think in the house he shared with Jon and Robb, claiming that it was too full of hormones and love emotions and it was seeping into his music. Sansa tried not to be offended by the fact that he thought of her apartment as a hormone and love free zone. 

The more time they spent together the more comfortable Theon seemed to get and they were often squished together on the piano bench or on her couch. Theon was constantly reaching over to take the pencil from her hand and leaning over in front of her to make a note on her paper. And either her imagination had completely taken over or his eyes kept drifting to her lips when she sung. 

Sansa had no idea what to do with any of this. He had seemed to make it pretty clear that she was just a friend to him, and she was fine with that really she was, but that didn’t mean he had to keep making it harder for her. How was her crush supposed to have a clean death when he kept coming over with his curls looking mused like he’d just woken up and his lips that were just begging her to kiss them? 

She was on the verge of telling him one night that he couldn’t just keep showing up and taunting her heart like this when he looked up from the song he was working on, his expression suddenly shy. 

“I have a song I’m going to play for everyone on Thursday.” Theon swallowed as he looked at her nervously. “But I want you to hear it first.” 

“Me?” Sansa asked in surprise, putting her notebook down on the cushion beside her and pulling her knees against her chest. Maybe if she hid her chest from view it would stop growing warm every time he talked to her. “Why me?” 

“Because I wrote it for you.” Theon admitted in a rush, his eyes never leaving her face. Sansa had to force herself to not let her mouth fall open in shock. She must had heard him wrong, there was no way he was writing songs about her. 

“You wrote a song for me?” she asked, her tongue stumbling over the words and she felt silly even saying them. Sansa was certain she had misheard him. 

“I’ve written lots of songs for you.” Theon admitted with a shy smile that made Sansa’s heart start pounding. 

“But I’m just your friend. Do you write songs about all your friends?” Sansa forced herself to ask. Her heart was hammering so hard she could feel it in her thighs that were pressed against her chest and she clutched her legs tighter to her as Theon shook his head slowly. 

“I don’t want to be just your friend.” Theon admitted, still not taking his eyes off hers as he strummed at the guitar. “Let me play you the song Sans, it says what I want to say best.” 

Sansa nodded slowly, her thoughts spinning faster than she could keep up with. Theon liked her as more than a friend? Gossip magazines got something right for once? She had to remind herself to breathe as Theon began to sing, his eyes still locked on hers. 

“She burns so bright I still see her when I close my eyes/I messed up so much of my life/but I swear this is one thing I could finally do right.” 

Theon’s voice was throatier than it usually was and the sound of it sent shivers up Sansa’s spine. She dug her fingers into her legs because she was suddenly overcome with the need to reach out and touch him but she wanted to hear the rest of the song, of her song. 

“Give me the chance to be the man of your dreams/I swear there’s more to me than it seems/take a chance see what we can be/all I need is the music, you and me.” 

Was she breathing? Sansa was pretty sure she wasn’t breathing and she forced herself to draw a shaky breath as Theon continued. His eyes had yet to leave hers and Sansa knew with sudden flash of certainty that this would forever be the most romantic thing to ever happen to her. 

“In my dreams this is enough/ I am the one you’ve always dreamed of/in my dreams I am enough/I am somehow worthy of your love.” 

Sansa felt a twinge in her heart as he recalled the first song she had ever played for him and she blinked back the sudden sting of tears. She refused to ruin this moment by crying. 

“In my dreams you take my hand and we run away/they can say what they’re gonna say/I know things aren’t always as they appear/they can talk all they want too, we don’t have to hear.” 

The guitar chord held on longer than Theon’s last note and Sansa waited until it fell silent before she finally removed her arms from her legs. Her limbs felt suddenly shaky and she was grateful that she didn’t have to stand because she didn’t trust her legs to support her weight. Theon looked at her curiously as she gently reached over to remove the guitar from his hands before placing it softly on the ground. The song was still repeating in her head as Sansa scooted closer to him until her leg bumped against his. This was not the direction she had expected her day to go in. 

“That’s really how you feel about me?” Sansa couldn’t help but ask as she searched Theon’s face, telling herself to be brave before she reached forward to run her fingers through his surprisingly soft hair. Theon closed his eyes at her touch before they fluttered open as he nodded. 

“You asked me once to choose between music or alcohol, but that wasn’t the choice.” Theon whispered, his voice hoarse as he rose his hand to clutch hers where it still rested in his hair. “The choice was you or the bottle and I’d pick you every single time.” 

The last word was still dying on his lips when Sansa leaned over and kissed him. Theon smiled against her mouth as he wound his fingers into her hair and if pressed Sansa wouldn’t have been able to recall if they kissed for seconds or minutes because it felt like time had stopped the moment his lips met hers. 

“You are worthy of me you know.” Sansa whispered when they finally pulled apart, both more than a little breathless. 

Theon pressed a kiss to her nose which made Sansa smile at him so wide she knew it had to look ridiculous. “Sansa, no one is worthy of you.” 

_While it is obvious to everyone who listens to it that _‘In my Dreams’_ is written about Stark, fans are still debating over whether or not Stark’s solo written love song, _‘Oceans of You’_ is written about Greyjoy._

They had been dating for only five blissful days when Sansa decided she couldn’t let him keep singing her love songs if she wasn’t going to share hers with him. He was showing his heart to her with every song that he sang, she wasn’t about to let that be one sided. 

“In my mind this is more of a boppy song so don’t get used to it on the piano.” Sansa warned him as he settled on to the bench beside her, grinning wildly. 

“Who cares what instrument you play, you wrote a song about me Sans.” Theon said bumping her shoulder with his. 

“I’ve written lots of songs about you Theon.” Sansa reminded him, bumping his shoulder back as she blushed. 

She had thought she was nervous singing her song for the first time in front of a screaming crowd but that was nothing to how she felt when singing a song she had written about Theon to Theon. Sansa found that she couldn’t look at him while she sang it but during the last verse she reminded herself of the brave way he had refused to break eye contact with her when he sang her his first song and she forced herself to turn her head and sing the last lines while meeting his eyes. 

“You hit me like a whirlwind/you have sent me spinnin’/one look from you was all it took/you have me sinker, line and hook.” 

Sansa took her hands off the keys to fold them in her lap, suddenly realizing she was shaking she was so nervous. She wasn’t sure what it was about Theon that made her braver but she hoped it never went away. 

“I finally hear the difference.” Theon said slowly, reaching up to brush a lock of hair behind her ear. 

“In what?” Sansa asked, unsure of what he was referring to. 

“Piano and keyboard.” Theon admitted causing Sansa to laugh. “You play both beautifully.” 

“Thanks.” Sansa said rolling her eyes even as she blushed. 

“It’s not a surprise. Everything about you is beautiful.” Theon smiled before he leaned over to kiss her which Sansa let him do happily. That night when he undressed her for the first time, he said those same words again, even as his fingers trailed over the ridged scars on her back. Sansa had always known she was pretty but in Theon’s arms, for the first time in her life, she truly did feel beautiful. 

_Signs point to it being about Greyjoy, but several fans are worried that Greyjoy is having to sing a song written about Stark’s new lover. If that’s the case, it is likely the band is in for some rough months ahead. It would not be surprising if the song was cut from the band’s set list this tour. _

“Oh fuck, is this finally happening?” Arya’s voice suddenly cut through the room and Sansa pulled back from Theon so fast it was like she had been burned. 

“Hey guys.” Theon said sheepishly, his hands trailing slowly off of Sansa’s waist as she stepped fully out of the circle of his arms. They had arrived to the studio earlier than everyone else and when Sansa had pressed what was meant to be an innocent kiss to his mouth it quickly turned into some much more heated kissing. Which was how the band caught them making out in the middle of the studio. 

“Are you two...dating?” Robb asked, the word sounding foreign on his tongue as he looked confusedly between his sister and his best friend. 

“Yes.” Theon said before the question was barely out of Robb’s mouth. Sansa nodded along and tried to calm down the blush she knew was making her face and her hair the same color. 

“Just don’t make out in band spaces. The others are bad enough.” Jon said with an eye roll as he walked over to his bass. Arya shrugged and nodded in agreement as Robb acted hurt. Theon caught Sansa’s fingers in his own and he squeezed her hand as she looked up at him with a smile. She couldn’t remember if she had ever felt this happy before. 

The fourth album took nearly twice as long as their other albums had taken to write and record but Sansa personally thought it was worth it. To her, this album sounded even better than Shivers, it was certainly much happier. They did not put only love songs on it despite that being much of what they had written. They managed to scrape together enough material between the five of them that it wasn’t just a love album. 

At the release party Sansa and Theon chose to keep a respectable distance from each other although they kept making eye contact from across the room and she had to force herself not to burst out laughing at all the faces he made at her. They hadn’t announced their relationship to the public, only their family and inner circle knew. 

With all the rumors surrounding their relationship over the years Sansa knew when they came forward it was going to be a big deal. Neither of them were ready for that kind of pressure yet and Sansa wasn’t exactly in a hurry to have the media being dicks to them again or for them to reduce her contribution in the band down to her and Theon dating. She wanted to scream about her love for Theon but at the same time she wanted to live in the little bubble they had wrapped around themselves for as long as they could. 

_Greyjoy and Stark have become increasingly private about their relationship and that privacy has only fueled more questions. The signs are there that they are back together but if they are still over, it certainly doesn’t look like it will be forever. True loves always find their way back to each other in the end. _

Sansa snorted and closed her phone, not even finding it in herself to be annoyed at the author and their wild speculations. They had gotten one thing right after all, ‘In my Dreams’ was written about her. That was probably why Arya had sent it to her, although Sansa was pretty amused that her sister was reading gossip articles about her relationship. 

A sudden rustling beside her drew her from her thoughts and Sansa looked over to see Theon poke his head out from under the covers to blink at her groggily. 

“What’s so funny?” he asked, as Sansa settled back onto her side to look at him. He ran his fingers up and down her arm which only made Sansa smile harder. 

“Apparently our relationship might be over.” she admitted, rolling her eyes at the thought of the article. 

“Already?” Theon asked, before burying a yawn into the pillow. “And I thought I was doing so well.” 

“You are.” Sansa assured him, scooting forward to wrap her arms around him. 

“We can tell people we’re dating whenever you want.” Theon said looking more alert even as he blinked at her sleepily. 

“Really?” Sansa asked in surprise. She had been trying to think of a way to broach the subject since the release party. It had been a fun time but she spent most of the night thinking it would have been even more fun if Theon was by her side. She was sick of letting the fear of what other people thought influence her life, especially over something as important as him. 

“Really. I want everyone to know how much I love you Sansa.” Theon admitted, propping himself up on his elbow to look down at her, fingers trailing lightly through her hair. 

“Why don't we tell them then?” Sansa suggested as she leaned her face into his hand. 

“How would you like to do that?” Theon asked curiously although judging by the look on his face he would do whatever she wanted. 

Sansa turned away from him to grab her phone pulling up the camera app as Theon settled back onto the pillows beside her. 

“Good thing I have clothes on.” Theon said with an eye roll as Sansa held the phone above them. 

“You said you wanted people to know.” she reminded him, leaning closer so her lips brushed his as she whispered, “They'll know now.” 

At 5:51 that morning two of the same picture floated around the internet, who attacked the photo and corresponding captions with a frenzy like sharks feeding. 

**@theongreyjoy** The best part of dreaming is waking up to you @sansastark 

**@sansastark** You are worthy @theongreyjoy 

When Sansa would finally look at her phone again nearly eight hours later she would have a total of eighteen missed calls, thirty-six text messages and 99+ notification counts on both twitter and Instagram. Before she could decide if she wanted to look at any of them Theon kissed the back of her neck and she happily turned her phone back off again.


End file.
